The Interior Design Show kicks off with The Party (which is a party, except Karim Rashid is the DJ)

Last night was the kick-off of the Interior Design Show (IDS), and true to form, The Party, its annual splashy affair, was one of the hottest tickets in the city. Canadian and international design talent gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, including Matali Crasset,Stephen Burks, Brad Ford, Bjarke Ingels,Fabio Novembre, Eero Koivisto, Amy Lau, Claus Sendlinger, Piero Lissoniand Sarah Richardson. Over 5,000 guests previewed the 175,000-square-foot space while sipping cocktails, sampling from an array of caterers (even at an opening night reception, the lines for mini sandwiches were at least 50 people long) and hitting the dance floor to tunes from a spinning DJ. That DJ? None other than Karim Rashidsporting a casual white blazer and pants, white shoes and a pink hoodie (naturally). Our look at The Party in a gallery after the jump.

Rashid wasn’t the only designer dressing to impress (hey, he impressed some people). We loved Crasset’s page-meets-mushroom-cut hair, bright orange sweater and running shoes—most of the other 5,000 people must have received a “please dress in black” memo, because 90 per cent of them only wore colour on their lips. In true design fashion though, every detail of the night was thought through, from the ice sculptures out front glorifying iconic designs to the installation of long streamers disguising the escalator up to the show. An auction in support of the OneXOne foundation challenged big-name interior design firms such as Burdifilek and Yabu Pushelburg and fashion favourites like Joe Mimran and Philip Sparks to reconfigure the Julian children’s chair by Magis. At last count, David Dixon’s diamond dog was leading the pack at over $1,000, but we haven’t ruled out Sparks’s furry chair just yet.

By the end of the night, most guests had nestled into an exhibit space to rest after traipsing the enormous showroom floor, truly testing out the products on display. We wouldn’t be surprised if someone spent the night in this giant urn.

Check back on Monday to see our roundups of 2012’s big interior design trends and much more.